A humiliated Gordon Brown was today forced to drive to a voter’s house to apologise, hours after he was caught out calling her a ‘bigoted woman’.
The Prime Minister had to tear up his schedule to visit Gillian Duffy, 65, after his off-guard insult threatened to totally undermine Labour’s election campaign.
It was picked up by a microphone as Mr Brown drove off after Mrs Duffy had stopped him in the street in Rochdale and raised genuine concerns about immigration levels.
He had already apologised by phone after he realised his words had been recorded but in farcical scenes, he later visited her terraced home to speak to her in person in a desperate bid to mitigate the damage.
The Prime Minister emerged looking chastened after an agonising 40 minutes and gave a pinched smile as he faced the hordes of media massed on the pensioner’s drive.
‘I am mortified by what has happened. I have given her my sincere apologies. I misunderstood what she said. She has accepted that there was a misunderstanding and she has accepted my apology,’ he said.
‘If you like, I am a penitent sinner. Sometimes you say things that you don’t mean to say, sometimes you say things by mistake and sometimes when you say things you want to correct it very quickly.
The slip-up came on one of the few occasions he has not been accompanied on the campaign trail by his wife and public relations expert, Sarah.
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See Also:
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Judge rejects Salmond’s TV debate court bid
Notes:
I think there’s a moral in this story somewhere but I can’t quite put my finger on it at this time unless of course you consider this one.
“Heh”…
I have no opinion on Gordon Brown and his Labour Party policies and this upcoming election. However, I am truly amazed that politicians the world over, who are supposed to be so media “smart”, still don’t get technology. Pictures, video, and sound can be recorded with the smallest, innocuous devices. An open mike is still an open mike after the interview is over. Didn’t the British invent James Bond and all his cool technology? Who’s to say that the open mike wasn’t a deliberate act! Cheers.
“consider this one” link above. LOL. You don’t have to be a brain just an asshole.”
The incident was intentional, even planned to the letter.
It’s going to end up as the coalition of the perpetually confused. And it has the potential to spread like ebola.